The Grenada gazette. (Grenada, Miss.) 1885-18??, 1887-04-09
MARTYRS OF SCIENCE

FAMOUS Investigator Who Have TO-,
feed Life and Health to Their pra "sf''
sion. 'rotes.
The scientific investigator, and Dot,.
bly, the experimenting chemist, jnrn'.
dangers that would be likely to ann.,'
the most valiant fighters, and he mpa,'
them calmly and deliberately, nn' is
hot blood and excitement. Famsliar;,n
with danger breeds recklcssness. II ny,
contempt, and the chemist will coous
taste with the tip of his tongue any my
known liquid that may be handed :,
him. Prussic acid IS al,ont tbe on,.
thing he will not put into his month
but he can recognize that without t,st'
ing it. He will make all sorts Of chnm
ical combinations, and try them ia s,o
it they are explosive or otherwise dam,
gerous, and sometimes he discover. in
q very unpleasant way that his ODv
product is loaded. Dulon~, in ls1
discovered chloride of nitrogen, and
when he recovered cnnSciouSpn>.
amid the wreck of all the v),,,.
ware in his laboratory, he made note
with his unwounded hand, Of the fat
that chloride of nitrogen is hicblv oy.
plosive. About a year afterward, IN
trying to ascertain the exact conditions
necessary to explode the compound, he
lost an eye and two tigers. Dayv, in
the same year, had a similar adventure
with the new explosive. A tube con.
tanning Il small quantity was suddenly
shivered to atoms without any appar.
ent cause. and Il piece of the class
struck Davy in the corner of the RIGHT
eye, disabling him from further imme.
diatc experiments. In July, 1878,
Davy set about finding out what wa,
the matter with chloride of nitrogen,
and attempted al analysis by mercury.
The stuff went off again Us usual, but
Davy had protected his eyes with
thick plate of glass, and he was wound.
ed only in the head and hands. rara.
day was III assistant to Davy
at this time. He was holding
a small tube containing a few
grains of the chloride between bis
thumb and finger, when u sudden and
wholly unprovoked explosion occurred,
stunning him and badly tearing his
hand.
Pliny the elder lost his life by ycntur.
ing ear Vesuvius to investigated the in
teresting phenomena of the eruption Of
August, A. ID. 70. He was saflocatel
by the sulphurous fumes. Lehman,
professor of chemistry at the Imperial
Museum of St. Petersburg, was killed
in 1867 by inhalation of fumes from
strongly-hcatcd arsenical mixture.
Berthollet proposed in 1888 to substi.
tute the chloride of potassium for the
nitrate in the manufacture Of gunpow.
der, and while experimenting at
Essoune, produced a terrible explosion
that killed the director of the govern.
ment works and ayoung lady, Bcrtho.
let and Lavoisier were both present.
but escaped injury. Lavoisicr was
guillotincd in 1894. Pellctier the elder
made a special study Of combining
phosphorus and chlorine with the
metals, and the breathing ofthe vapors
induced consumption, of which he died
In 1908 Barrucl rubbed Illuminating
mercury in an agate mortar and lada
portion Of his hand blown oft. The
next year Figuier put sixty grains Of
the same stuff in a glass-stoppcrcd bot
tie and took it into the lecture room at
Montpelier. When he removed the
stopper, the friction caused an eNplo'
sion that destroyed one ofthe chemists
eyes. Thenard was lccturins IN
1925 to the chemistry class o.
the Polytechnic School in Paris anu
moistened his throat with two mouth.
fuls Of corrosive sublimate instead o.
sweetened water. "Gentlcman, ne
said, II have poisoned myself; wOa'i
have taken is corrosive sublimate' anu
The remedy is white Of eggs, brlas
me some eggs" The students rala"a
MI the stores and kitchens in the nels"'
borhood, and the professor was sup
plied with eggs enough to save his '''' !
M y. Tribune.